Unexpected Disclosure
by Lisa Telramor
Summary: Sequel to Unconventional Distraction. Saguru finally discovers the name of the man who keeps visiting him. Kaito/Saguru slash


_AN: I've come to the realization that this story would be taking place after the Victorian era, and there are likely dozens of problems with chronology, but it has to be at least 1905 for the Arsene Lupin novels to exist, and the Victorian era ended in 1901. But I suppose it doesn't matter all that much as it was a prompt for a kink meme originally and I am taking Japanese characters and putting them in England. The second half was prompted by the idea of "Are they still Japanese?" PLEASE READ AND REVIEW!_

The young man who had been dogging Saguru's heels the past few months since his uncle's party was leaning against the stage of the Egyptian Hall's Conjurer's theatre. The show had ended almost half an hour before, but that had not stopped the performers from hanging around and getting to know their admirers. Saguru straightened his clothing and made his way carefully from his seat in the pit toward the stage where the man was laughing, looking younger and more relaxed than most of the times Saguru had seen him before. Then again, the man was playing magician at the moment, not thief, so perhaps that made all the difference in the world.

"Excuse me," he said politely, his voice low and soft. "Kuroba Kaito?" he asked using the Japanese ordering for the name. The laughing magician stopped laughing to turn to him. And stare.

"Yes?"

"Would you mind taking a walk with me?" Saguru kept his gaze toward the ground and his voice soft rather than feel triumphant. Three months of searching, and he had found that name and the face to go with it, exactly matching the mystery man who occasionally visited his bedroom window. Kaito's eyes narrowed as he considered the invitation.

"Okay," the magician said. "I'll come with you." He dodged the friendly elbow in the ribs as one of his companions chuckled. "I'll be back in a bit to help clean up," he promised the others.

Saguru nodded to them, took Kaito's offered arm, and walked out of the hall at a sedate pace. He didn't try to talk until they were out of earshot though. "So, a magician?" he asked. "Quick hands and a quicker tongue, it was simpler than I expected once I connected the dots."

Kaito chuckled. "Confronting me wearing a dress Tantei-san? I thought I was the only one who cross-dressed in this relationship."

Saguru blushed, pulling on his skirts. He hadn't initially planned on going to confront Kaito in drag, but… as a half-Japanese male of upper class origins; he was easily spotted and had a reputation to keep. Wearing a dress had worked well enough for his midnight visitor, so he had borrowed one of his cousin's dresses and practiced putting it on until he felt convinced he could pass as a woman. It had been rather terrifying leaving his rented room wearing it though. The corset made it hard to breathe, the shoulders were tight on him, and he felt ridiculous in the bustle and breast enhancers and all the other feminine products he had bought under pretense of courting a woman. (Although what gossip that brought about he didn't really want to think about). "I wanted to go unnoticed," he muttered.

The magician thief looked him over. "You know, you pull it off well. You chose accessories that hid your shoulders well and your Adam's apple. The wig is a good match for your hair color and is worn correctly—you wouldn't believe how many people have trouble with that. You could use a bit of help with your fashion sense and putting on makeup, but overall I am impressed." He grinned. "And to think you were scandalized by my appearance when we first met."

"You were improperly dressed," Saguru sniffed. "The skin you showed scandalized me more than you cross-dressing."

Kaito laughed. "Are you sure? Your face turned pretty red, if I recall correctly."

"I'd never considered kissing a man. And you were flirting fairly heavily."

"What can I say," he murmured, voice dropping seductively. "I like to flirt."

"Stop that." Saguru smacked him lightly with the handbag in his free hand. "You performed well today," he said instead. "I failed to decipher how the majority of your tricks were done. It was amusing. I have not had as much fun on an outing since I grew old enough to spot most sleights of hand."

"Saguru," Kaito chided, "You're supposed to enjoy the show, not dissect it." He magicked a rose into his hand. "Here. It's supposed to be a surprise and bring delight."

"Is that why you do it?" Saguru asked, accepting the flower and tucking it into his bag to keep it. He had dried every flower the magician had conjured for him over the course of their unusual courtship. If he could call it that.

"Perform?" Kaito asked. "Or steal? Because if you want an answer to either question it would have to wait for a later date."

"Either I suppose, although it makes me curious that you are a thief when you are successful enough at your trade to not need to be one."

"It's fun," Kaito said. "It's like performing only better, since it's like a big joke on the world. I do usually give back what I take mind you."

"Like my pocket watch." It was still a sore point for Saguru.

"Bringing that up again? I gave it back in a timely manner in one piece, Detective."

"Not soon enough," Saguru muttered.

Kaito stopped them a short ways away from the theatre and bowed in a gentlemanly fashion. "I am afraid this is where we must part, Madame. I hope you can excuse me as I promised to help clean up from the acts."

Saguru glanced around and clutched his bag tighter before leaning in. "Visit me later? I would like to talk."

A slow, spreading smile appeared on Kaito's face. "Of course. You have earned it. Congratulations on discovering my name. Until tonight," he said with a wink that promised more than was likely to happen before bowing again and heading back the way he came. Saguru wished he didn't blush so easily. He also wished he hadn't come up with the idea of confronting Kaito in a dress. Corsets were terribly uncomfortable. He sighed, hiked the skirts up enough to walk—but not so far as to cause scandal—and started looking for the nearest available carriage to take him back to his room.

It was very late when Kaito arrived at his door—2:34am— and not through the window like usual. Actually, Saguru mused, it was strange to actually invite the thief in. Normally the man came and left at will.

"Get your coat," Kaito said, not even leaving the doorway after Saguru closed the door behind him. "We're going out."

"In the middle of the night?" An eyebrow went up, but he shrugged. His coat, hung next to the door, was easily reached. "May I enquire where we are going?"

"Somewhere private where we can chat uninterrupted and enjoy the night air."

Saguru would have been a bit skeptical, but a soft kiss to the corner of his mouth stopped any questions or protests before he could form them. He kissed back, feeling now familiar pleasure with the action.

"Trust me?" Kaito asked grinning, more thief than magician in the expression.

The answer was obvious. "With all but my valuables."

The thief laughed. "You've gained a sense of humor in the past few months."

Smiling slightly, Saguru put on his coat and let Kaito lead him out of the room and into the night beyond.

"Glad to see you male again," was the first words spoken a few minutes later.

"Shut up. You've come as a woman four? Five times now?"

"Only three, and you prefer me dressed as a man, even if it isn't my real face showing."

True enough, Saguru thought. Kaito made a very attractive man. Suits tended to cling in all the right ways. Honestly, it was a surprise it had taken so long to realize he preferred men to women. "Where are we going?" he asked again after another ten minutes had passed.

"Not much further," Kaito promised. "Just up ahead actually."

"Ahead…? The graveyard?" Saguru, had he not gotten to know the thief, would have honestly questioned his sanity at the choice. Knowing him, he knew the man was insane, so it made a strange sort of sense.

"Yes." They passed through the gates into the lines of headstones and scattered trees. "This way," Kaito said, pulling toward an oak tree near the newer part of the cemetery. The tree was old, but some of the graves couldn't be more than a decade. "Here." They stood beneath he branches in front of a stone carved in the shape of a bird—perhaps a dove.

Saguru leaned forward to read the name. "Kuroba Toichi?"

"My father." The magician-thief touched the stone fondly. "His body isn't here. It's in Japan with his ancestors, all ash now, but it felt right to give him a western grave."

"Ah." What did one say to such a revelation?

"Sit."

The grass was cool beneath Saguru's back, but nice, and Kaito was a warmth next to him. He couldn't remember the last time he had been out so late. It was a relief to know that they were not sitting over Toichi's body. Defiling someone's grave by sitting on it was not something Saguru would be proud of.

"So the chase is over?"

"Hm?"

"You chasing after my identity," Kaito clarified.

"Oh." Saguru watched the leaves move in a light breeze, listening to the rustle. "So it is. I still intend to catch you if you steal in front of me though."

"I take that as a challenge to my skills."

"Oh, hush." Saguru rolled on his side to swat lightly at the thief. "I hope to stay around and continue…whatever it is we have been doing regardless of knowing your name."

Kaito met his eyes and sighed. "I'm glad. I've had a lot of fun tormenting you. And flirting of course, can't forget that."

"Or the kissing or the groping," Saguru muttered.

Kaito laughed and Saguru rolled back over feeling pensive. They had been courting for how long and yet they barely knew the other in the sense of what their life was like. Undoubtedly Kaito knew him better than he knew Kaito, but… He took a breath.

"I'm a bastard, child you know."Saguru looked up at the stars through the branches. It was soothing to do this, lie on the grass like he would normally never do since dignity demanded he remain in a stiff, upright posture at all times. It was Kaito he had to thank for it.

"What?" the thief in question said from his right. He felt the other man shift to look at him, propped up on his elbows. "Seriously?"

"Yes. Mother was three months pregnant when she married my legal father. It is probably the most wide known, least talked about scandal around." Saguru glanced at his companion smiling wryly. "I'm sure you can tell I have Japanese descent. My eyes are a bit narrower, my nose a bit flatter, I am below average height, and a bit darker in skin tone than the rest of my family. Of course my English blood shows as well. My hair, while not pale blonde like my mother's, is a light brown, or dark blonde depending on how you look at it. My facial features are more distinctly European than Asian. But it doesn't change the fact that there is no possible way that I could be a product of my mother and father's marriage."

"Huh. So did your mother tell you that you were born out of wedlock?"

Saguru snorted. "Of course. As soon as I was old enough to realize I was different I asked. My biological father came to England with my grandfather. Grandfather was studying medicine to take back the knowledge to Japan. Father grew up in England for most of his life, and became a member of the law enforcement for a time. He met my mother by accident. She had snuck out of home, they hit it off, and they started meeting each other." He shrugged. "They planned to marry, and I think my father proposed and even asked her father's permission, but a noble woman and a police officer is not a good match, so as soon as it became known she was pregnant she was married off. It was early enough along that it wasn't even noticeable she was pregnant during the ceremony."

Kaito watched intently. Neither of them had shared anything personal about their pasts, and the explanation was explaining quite a bit as to why the man was so stiff around people. "And your biological father?"

Saguru shrugged again. "He was upset, naturally, but as he could do nothing about Mother's marriage, when his father decided to return to Japan he went with him, taking his knowledge of law enforcement with him. He sends letters sometimes… He's set up as a police captain, protecting people from criminals in Japan now… Grandfather visits. He has visited four times in my memory."

A thought seemed to strike Kaito and he frowned. "You said your father gave you your pocket watch."

"He did." Saguru smiled. "I met him once when I was thirteen. Grandfather had come to visit and brought him along. Said he should meet his son at least once. Father gave it to me as…a kind of recognition I suppose. It was the watch his father had given to him when he first became a police officer. That makes it precious."

"I see." Kaito rolled onto his back again, crossing and uncrossing his legs. "I am sure you can tell I have Japanese ancestry as well."

"Of course."

"Yeah, well…" He crossed his legs again, jiggling a foot on his knee. "Dad was a magician. He was born in Japan, with my mother, but they dreamed of seeing the world. So they left. Dad saw a conjuring act in China and he was hooked. From that day on he dedicated his life to learning magic. But…"

Saguru glanced at Kaito from the corner of his eye. The thief looked uncomfortable. "He was a thief as well, wasn't he?"

"Yeah. I think he might have been a thief before he was a magician, but who knows now? Mom might, but I haven't seen her since she moved back to Japan." He shook his head. "Anyway, he practiced both skills, traveling west until he got to Europe. It was around then that I was born. I grew up traveling around Europe with Mom and Dad, watching them put on shows and stuff. It's how I know several languages. Dad trained for a time with a magician named Herrmann. They parted ways eventually, but he took his style and spirit of performance and made it his own."

"Alexander or…?"

"Alexander Herrmann. Yeah. So Dad performed in the day and evenings, and at night he was a thief. He must have made some enemies because when I was about eight years old the magic bullet trick he was performing went wrong. At least that's what they said from the investigation. He was shot onstage and died. I was in the audience." Kaito shivered and Saguru reached out to touch him hesitantly. Kaito didn't pull away so he left his hand there. "It was years later that I found out that he hadn't made any mistakes in his act that night. Someone from the audience shot him because he came a bit too close to something he shouldn't have."

"So you became a thief because you what? Want to find his killers? Find out what he died for?"

Kaito huffed a breath, turning over to face Saguru. "I want to bring the people who shot my dad to justice. I taught myself as much magic as I could. Hell, I even went to America and found Herrmann's wife to teach me what gaps I couldn't figure out on my own."

"Why not Herrmann?"

"Dead," Kaito said flatly. "Died performing the magic bullet routine like Dad."

Saguru pondered the implications. "I wonder if there are any more deaths connected to him…"

"One of Herrmann's students also died doing the magic bullet trick. Maybe they all just came too close, or knew too much." Kaito inched closer, seeking Saguru's warmth. "It's a bit daunting when I think of it like that. The possibility that it goes deep is huge and it's just me, but…"

"You have to do it." Saguru looked Kaito in the eye and sighed. "Well. It looks like we both have secrets we'd rather not see the light of day."

"Yeah." Kaito let a hand wander up Saguru's arm, settling it on his shoulder. "One thing, how did you end up your uncle's heir?"

"Ah." Saguru supposed he should have expected it. He wouldn't be quite as respected a noble man if it hadn't been for his uncle, and one would think that as a bastard child he wouldn't be respected at all. "When Mother started a new family when I was around five, my uncle took me in. He had never married, and my legal father had always been a bit uncomfortable around me since he knew I wasn't his biological son. So Uncle raised me. He named me his heir and that was that. He's been trying to arrange my marriage ever since," Saguru added irritably. "And while my personality scares most women off, some people find me _exotic_." He shuddered.

"Exotic?" Kaito laughed. "Well you're certainly unique." He leaned up, lips curled in a smile. "It sounds like we have both had hard childhoods."

"Great, we're both damaged," Saguru muttered. His voice came out sarcastic, but his eyes were glued to Kaito's lips as they drew closer.

The smile turned into a grin. Kaito pounced, pulling Saguru across the remainder of the gap separating their bodies to kiss him, pressed against him from chest to thigh. "Mm. Well, spilling your guts works. I feel more intimate already."

Startled, Saguru laughed, arms coming up to hold the thief close. "You know I will help you in your goal any way I can?" he whispered, ghosting his lips against Kaito's jaw. "Use my resources if you need them."

Kaito shivered in his arms. "Only if I need them. I would want you without them just the same."

"You had better." He met the magician's lips with his own, feeling warmth spread through him. This was what he wanted. Intimacy. It was something he had missed most of his life, and now it felt so warm and good. They pressed together, Saguru's pocket watch a lump keeping them apart. For the first time Saguru cursed the restrictive clothing that was the style. It would be so much easier if he could have fewer layers, perhaps just skin touching. Sinful, the church would call the feelings he was having, but he had never given much of a damn for the church. He was too logical to believe that God would scowl down at the emotions he held. Humans were foolishly self-centered to think an almighty cosmic being would care about the harmless doings of two men.

"Thank you," Kaito whispered against his lips as they parted. "For trusting me. For listening."

"Of course. Thank you for being patient." After all, it hadn't been easy going against what he had been taught and his natural sense of right and wrong to pursue the thief holding him. Saguru had done so much he would never have dreamed of doing all to be with this man and to understand him. "What will you do when you reach your goal?"

Kaito sighed, arm moving up and down Saguru's back in soothing circles. "I don't know. I suppose I would return to Japan to see my mother. Perhaps teach someone my skills to pass on what I have learned." He kissed Saguru's forehead. "What will you do, Detective? Follow your dream even if it goes against what your uncle plans for you? Or be the heir he expects?"

"I can't do that, now can I?" Saguru said wryly. "He expects me to marry a noblewoman, and I can't exactly inform him I prefer a different…anatomy. Or I could, rather it would cause a whole new scandal that would likely make my uncle hate me. There would be less of a scandal if I just ran off."

Kaito snickered. "Wouldn't they wonder where you went?"

"Of course."Saguru raised a brow. "Likely they would infer I had eloped with some poor girl that I impregnated. Or perhaps they would think that I ran to join my father."

A grin stretched Kaito's face and he leaned in close. "Oh, I wouldn't mind eloping with you, Detective, provided you promised to stick around."

Saguru blushed. "I…hadn't considered the idea. …It is possible."

The thief wrapped himself close, entangling their legs together and pressing forehead to forehead. "Come with me. Help me track down my father's killers and stay with me."

"Yes," Saguru said. What else could he say when his entire being wanted it? He had wanted it from the moment he met the thief. Kaito was interesting, puzzling, a breath of life into a dull world. "I want to be with you."

Kaito smiled, gently this time, all teasing set aside. "I look forward to it. One day I will ask you to join me then."

"Not now?"

"No." Gentle, talented fingers carded through dark blonde hair. "There are things still to be done here for both of us. Soon," he promised.

Saguru let the fingers relax him until he felt like drowsing off. He closed his eyes, and when he next opened them, Kaito was gone. This was okay. The thief would be back. And he knew that he needed his freedom. Saguru slept the rest of the night under the stars, not caring if it was improper. Nothing in his life was proper anymore. And he was okay with that.


End file.
